


I Once Believed Love Would Be Burning Red. But It's Golden...

by queenofmashatar



Category: Coronation Street
Genre: F/F, I don't know if I want to continue this yet, I have plans for maybe another chapter or so if there was interest, I'm so bad at making up titles, New Year's Eve, Ok the title is reference to a Taylor Swift song., bonus marks if you know which
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22163068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofmashatar/pseuds/queenofmashatar
Summary: After the events of that infamous New Years' Eve, and the morning that followed here is my imagining of some of the bits in between that lead to Tracy and Paula waking up together to start the New Year.
Relationships: Tracy Barlow/Paula Martin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	I Once Believed Love Would Be Burning Red. But It's Golden...

**Author's Note:**

> If there is interest, I may expand this beyond a one-shot. I took some liberties in terms of location, to help develop the story ever so, but I've tried to fill in some of the blanks and set this up for a multi-chapter mini fic. At the minute, I've set this open-ended (as if there will be chapters to be added).

She honestly cannot believe that she is even out at all tonight; she cannot believe that they actually managed to drag her out to this club of all places. It was filled with twenty somethings who thought a classy aftershave was a quick spray of Lynx body spray. She knew that it was the sociable thing to do. She knew it was what people who were friends with their colleagues did, especially on New Years' Eve when her daughters would much prefer to spend the evening with their father. She knew it was what they did after big wins for the firm, factor in the festive period, it was almost demanded of her to be out with everyone. Yet, she almost felt like a third wheel, Adam was with Sarah, Leanne was with Nick. But she was here without a day and all on her own. She wasn’t even really in the mood, not in the slightest. With everything that had gone on recently with Sophie, their separation in full swing with her backpacking across most of the world it seemed, she wasn’t in much of a celebrating spirit. She was at least going to put in some effort in, if not in spirit, with what she was wearing. It was the least she could do, and in reality, it was rare for her not to, comments regularly made to the such, her dress showing off all of her assets, her figure trim and fully emphasised and her jacket casually draped across her shoulders. It wouldn't be long, however, before she took this off though if the growing heat of the room was anything to go by.

But Adam was a persistent man, after all, he wouldn't take no for an answer as he convinced her to come out, persuasive is why he gets the wins for the firm that he does, its why they get paid what they do. With most of Wetherfield seemingly in need of a lawyer these days, they can afford nights like these. So, that was how she found herself here, slumped into one of the booths at one of Wetherfield’s more lower end bars, nursing a nice if not overpriced Gin and Tonic considering their location, if anything, she was just happy to be off of her feet and away from Adam and the rest of the firm’s staff, several sheets to the wind at this point. Maybe the gin was as much as it was due to the fact they would more likely be surving jäger bombs on nights like these. _She really needed to get out of here,_ she cynically thought.

But now, Adam is gesticulating widely at her, urging her to come out and join him on the makeshift dance floor just before the long row that makes up the bar. She doesn't doubt that if she even moves the slightest, her shoes will start sticking to this floor. She can just about muster enough energy to even lift a hand to wave him off, as he pouts at her from his position on the dance floor. He is getting more worse for the wear it seems, his hair seems to be spraying up now from at least three different angles and there is a definite sweat across his brow.

It doesn’t take long for Leanne to join him in his antics and efforts to get her up and enjoying herself, they are both as bad as each other really, persistent to get her up and enjoying her night. Leanne is easier to placate, all too eager to turn back to Nick and revel in the night she has away from her young son. Really Paula is suprised that she's even out, she knows she'd much rather be with her children if she could be. She remembers those days all too well, knows how hard it can be to have a family and have it all as they'd say, she'd be juggling her now ex-husband, with her young children, not to mention her burgeoning legal career. Really it took her too long to get the cogs all spinning in tandem, and she can not really say she ever did it successfully. Point and case her squash partner, and subequently her husband walking in on them in bed together. Here’s hoping that Leanne makes a better go of it than she ever did, but she can't even fathem bedding another woman. _Never say Never though._

Women are swarming to Adam by this point, she can’t blame them. There is a certain “je ne sais quoi” about him at times. Really it's like a moth to a flame, in a sense she’s glad for it. It keeps him distracted long enough for her to get up and join into a queue for another drink. He really should behave, Sarah is likely nearby, and she wouldn't put it past her to fight women off of her man.

It’s not that Paula doesn’t appreciate her co-workers; her friends really. No. It’s just that, after everything that has gone on this year, she would have much preferred a nice night at home, a glass of wine in hand, catching up on some prep work for one of her upcoming cases that has fallen into her lap. She knows what Adam’s up to though, desperate to get her out of that flat and meeting people once more. Now that he’s all loved up with Sarah, he wants to pass that on to the world, well to Wetherfield at least. But she’s been around long enough to be tired of everything that comes during the build up to a new relationship. Adam said off the cuff one day whilst he was making a brew, that that just means that she hasn't met the right person yet. But, was it too much to ask, to have expectations and standards. Since her early days of dating, her friends made fun of her for being picky. For a brief while, she really thought that Sophie had been ticking all of her boxes, yet now she finds herself, once more, single. Maybe she was the problem, but she daren't admit that to Adam, she’d loathe admitting that Adam was actually right. That when she would meet the right person, that so called “one”, that everything would fall into place and everything would just feel right. That everything would click, that it would feel easy and not a chore. That she would find something that for a long while had felt like she had been missing.

After what had felt like an age to get to the bar, her shoes sticking three way on the journey there, she ordered once more a Gin and Tonic, Bombay Sapphire with a zest of lemon and a lime wedge on the rim, with the barman looking at her as if she had three heads, she meandered back to the booth that she had previously occupied surveying the room as she made her way back across. She shouldn't be surprised it is as busy as it is. It is the New Year period. There is plenty of staff party’s and last hurrahs of the decade in full swing it seems. Manchester as a whole will be awash with plenty of hangovers in the morning she doesn't doubt.

It’s after she has taken her seat once more she feels her presence before she hears her. 

‘I’m glad you’re here. Since I’ve finally seen Steve for the slimy two faced rat that he truly is.’ she uttered with an exasperated huff as she took her seat in the booth. ‘You do divorces don’t you?’.

 _Does she want a divorce? What does that even mean? Dare she ask what Steve has done now?_ Paula knows that Tracy has a reputation, wouldn't be suprised if it was her who'd actually put the foot wrong. She knows Steve is no saint, wed seven times after all, but she had heard tales from practically everyone on the street about Tracy, stories non the least from Adam (and she was his Aunt), tales of revenge and murder, the stories were not too nice ones if she was being honest, but that doesn't mean that she cannot find beauty in the woman. She wasn't blind. Tracy is devilishly charming, to the extent it will almost make you forgot all of her past indiscretions. There is something about the woman, there has to be, after all, to have had as many relationship as she has had. Yet, being so up close to the woman like she is right now, she can take true stock of her. There even is a certain sinful lust that she feels just looking into her eyes as she takes in the woman and her presence as she plops ungracefully down into the seat opposite her. Paula almost feels like she should make a sarcastic comment about her taking the seat, but with the look Tracy has, she doesn’t want to rub salt across any open wounds.

Why does she feel so nervous? This must be what it feels like to be in the presence of Tracy Barlow; it’s disarming. And those nerves must be there for all to see, as Tracy gives a little laugh at her expense as she removes her jacket and places her glass of red wine that she had previously collected, down onto the table. Paula almost cannot help but look at the woman in front of her, gazing at her behind the rim of her recently obtained Gin and Tonic.

Tracy can’t help but smirk at how much Paula seems disarmed, their eyes meeting once more as Paula tries to divert her attention, anywhere away from locking gazes once more. It’s almost as if Paula has never felt this flutter before, a flutter deep within the pits of her stomach, giddy as if she was a teen once more uncovering her attraction to people of the so called fairer sex. But there was nothing fair about Tracy Barlow. Paula really was a crumbling mess right now, not the suave powerhouse lawyer that most would cross paths with on a day-to-day basis. She hasn’t been this awkward in a long while, and for what? For Tracy Barlow?

She never gets like this. But in this moment, with Tracy Barlow before her staring back with an intense glare in her eyes, in an eyecatching silver and black dress that shows off all of her assets nonetheless, she’s all giddy. If she was being honest, Tracy looks incredible. Paula cannot help but clear her throat to try to have an honest conversation with her, it suddenly dry and caught for no apparent reason. 

‘So what are you doing here, and dare I ask what Steve has done to merit you asking me for my services?’ God that sounds awful, Paula thought. Well, at least it was the start of a conversation and not her bumbling and learing at the woman before her. 

‘Nothing new really. I expect him to mess things up by now. Multiple times a day even. We’ve had this back and forth now going on two decades and two marriages, not to mention his five other trips up the aisle. But I saw you sitting on your lonesome as our Adam and the rest of the rowdy bunch over there tore up the dance floor. Thought you could use the company because I'm certainly not heading out there’.

Paula really couldn’t miss the slight wink at the comment, the inflection in her voice despite the laugh at the remark. She really was a charmer, as she huffed in an exasperated manner. ‘But no, whilst my sad and pathetic excuse of a marriage free falls into disaster, are you going to tell me why you are sat here, face like a horses' behind, refusing to join in with that lot. Don’t get me wrong, I’d avoid pleasantries with Battersby if I could, but that doesn’t mean you should be over here moping, because you could be doing that in the Rovers without having to pay the five quid door fee’.

With a slight falter in her smile, she huffed her retort, ‘I wish I could, but Adam is a persuasive man. You no doubt will already know that. Won his most recent case, and with New Years', he couldn’t resist dragging us all out, even if some of us are too old’.

‘Come on Paula, you’re only as young as the woman you feel, and you’ve being feeling very young lately if Sophie is anything to go by’.

‘And there is the Tracy Barlow wit we all know so well’, she replied in a huff. ‘But really Tracy, I could happily be doing without all of this, to be frank with you, I’m hiding away from them to avoid it all. I mean look at that. They were sloppy without the added effect of alcohol. I will happily keep my dignity from over here, thank you very much’.

‘How awful that must be for you Paula. But come on, it cannot be all bad. You’ve got a lot going for you’.

‘Have I?’, what was a night out for most without the slight existential crisis, ‘Here I am, on the wrong side of forty, with my much younger colleagues all enjoying their night. In reality, I am nowhere near drunk enough to even enjoy this music, let alone my night’, however, Paula couldn't resist the drop in her gaze, admiring the jawline of the woman before her eyes dropped to observe the slight cleavage on display, unable to resist as she bit her lip at the sight, ‘Whatever Steve has done, he is a fool, because, from my seat, the view isn't half bad’.

‘Well it is nice to know that my efforts haven’t entirely gone to waste this evening’.

Everything about this is telling her to stop, that Tracy is bad news, that Tracy was married (for how much longer she wouldn't want to hazard a guess by the sounds of it). But what was wrong with a harmless little flirting. It should be awkward, but in a sense, it was almost natural. And their long periods without talking weren’t awkward; they felt comfortable.

‘So come on then. I know you’ve tried to play it off, said our Adam is persuasive, which he is. But you are no pushover Paula. You can go if you want. So why stay?’

Part of her wants to lie to Tracy, but she is inclined, almost, to tell the truth to the woman, or a variation of the truth at least. ‘Maybe I’m living in delusion, trying to bring in the New Year with a bang. Part of me thinks that Leanne is on a mission, determined for me to pull. The other day she did say that “the best way to get over someone, is to get under someone else”. I near dropped all my files when she dropped that one out’.

‘Leanne does know that better than most’.

‘The pot calling kettle black there, Tracy?’ she muttered back with a chuckle and a slight eye roll. ‘But, no I’m not sure if its really what I’m after, or even if I could really'.

‘See the trouble you might have in pulling anybody, man or woman, is that you’re not going to get very far if you are sat over here. Surprised Leanne can pull anybody, and for that fact I'm surprised she has even pulled half the people she has based on the moves she is throwing tonight, and that includes my sorry excuse of a husband because he is a literal fool. Nick looks embarrassed for her at this point’.

‘Watch it! I know you’ve got a reputation to uphold, even if you have a point. I mean those dance moves are infamous on our nights out for a reason’. She could resist the nibble, but Tracy may have a point. Leanne might have someone’s eye out soon, she’ll need to slow down to even have any chance of making it to midnight. ‘So now you know my secret, are you going to tell me what brings you to my company, because it can’t be the company based on what you have just said'. 

‘Maybe I do want your company. Noticed you at the bar when I was getting my drink, I, like you, would much rather stay away from your so-called colleagues, no matter how drunk I get this evening. And trust me, I will be getting very drunk. But, there are much worse ways I could spend my evening. So Steve be damned, I am going to enjoy myself, and so are you. So what about it, because there is a bottle of tequila I fancy liberating from the barman for our evening, what do you say?’, a smile spreading across the lips of the mischievous woman. 

So, that's how, over the years, Tracy Barlow has gotten her way; because that smile is disarming. But Paula has stared down the throat of many a seductress over her career, determined to get their way and manipulate her (or try to) for their whim, whether that business or pleasure. Tracy Barlow is no different she feels. She still has managed to avoid the question she orignally posed. But, with how Tracy is laughing, how at ease she is in this moment, she will let her. She can do what she likes because her laugh is infectious, it lifts her mood almost instantly.

‘Cheers to that Ms. Barlow’.

//

‘I’m confused. You are a successful, intelligent, might I say, very attractive woman’, Paula was drunker than she thought she was to let that slip from her lips, but she isn’t sorry, it was a very true statement. 

Tracy couldn’t help the chuckle that fell from her lips with this, innocently smirking in retort. ‘Am I?’, she exclaimed as if she didn’t know it. She leaned in further to the woman, annoyed almost that there was a table separating them both. She was seconds from joining her on the opposite side of the booth if she was being honest with herself. With Steve, Tracy sometimes felt as if she was overlooked, her husband not one to express his desire. Add Emma into the equation, and his attention was all with her, lately, she had felt forgotten. What was wrong with a harmless little flirtation, especially considering her company? She knew she was attractive, of course, she knew this, how could she not? But it was nice to hear it sometimes, she loved the attention. 

'Well, you are also a gobby, ex-con with a borderline personality disorder’. Paula continued with a laugh.

‘Oh. Thanks’. Her eyes couldn’t be help but roll at that, as she reached once more for her glass, eyes flicking back to the lawyer once again. She had long forgotten her surroundings, her attention solely on Paula and nothing else, anticipation grasped at every sentiment that was to fall from her lips.

‘My point is…what are you doing with Steve?’, she continued with a strong exhale, waiting once more for a mocking retort, yet nothing came her way as Tracy dropped her gaze briefly to the glasses before them both. Had they really drank that much? The tequila bottle she had liberated was empty almost!

The sigh that fell from Tracy’s lips was everything. It answered Paula’s question without a single word even being said. She looked defeated even as if this a question she considered all too often throughout her marriage to Steve.

‘Well…urm…”, and that was where she broke, answering the question that Paula had asked her more than once this evening. The chuckle in her throat only serving to break her reserve even further, if that was even possible. ‘Well Steve is like, one of those really annoying, yappy little dogs’. Paula couldn't help her puzzled look at this before Tracy continued, ‘and every New Year, I say I’m going to have to have him put down, but every New Year, I haven't got the heart’. 

‘I thought you were joking about your divorce?’ Paula returned if somewhat puzzled by what the woman had said.

‘No. The only joke is my marriage. I’ll tell you what? Why don’t me and you make this a New Years' Eve to remember? Are you in?’. Tracy affirmed, after looking once more at the drinks the pair of them had already consumed, a determined face across her features.

‘I’m in’, Paula returned.

‘So this is where you have been hiding. We lost sight of you thinking you’d left. But no, here you are, chatting up a rather fetching woman if the back of her head is anything to go by, I might add’. Leanne was going to regret that she doesn't doubt, as Tracy gears up to retort back to the clearly intoxicated woman. She had been so far in their little bubble, that she had completely forgotten about everybody else that they were with. 

‘Wanted to complete the set, hey Battersby?’, Tracy returned as she turned to meet the gaze of the other woman, a slight frown if she wasn't mistaken after being pulled away from their conversation, withdrawing herself from the space in front of Paula she had unmistakably encroached into.

‘Tracy! What are you doing here? She’s not bothering you is she, Paula? Tracy, why are you bothering her? No children, no husband that you could be terrorising this evening?’. Leanne is set to continue, but soon enough Adam stops her in her tracks, his accent even thicker if it could be believed as a result of the alcohol he had already consumed, ‘Tracy, what are you doing here? Peter had said you were going out to some gig with Steve. Not bothering you is she Paula?’.

‘No actually. I was actually enjoying her company’, she began before a chuckle from Leanne stopped her in her tracks, ‘she’s behaved her self so far this evening’.

‘Tracy? Behaving? Well I guess there is a first time for everything. Guess we’ll take your word for it’, Leanne returned indignantly, almost at a loathe to even say such, as Tracy returned her gaze to the lawyer before her and rolling her eyes.

‘See I’m not bothering her, I’m being my delightful self Leanne, so why don’t you join back up with your minder over there and enjoy the rest of your evening like I was doing before you came over here’.

‘Tracy don’t start’, Adam warned after Leanne had turned back to saunter over to Nick once more. ‘Look Paula I’m going back over there and the offer still stands for you to join us’.

‘No, its fine Adam, I’ve just got a good offer from a friend that I might take her up on if that is okay. So I’ll be heading off soon’, Paula continued, as she turned back to the company before Adam continued back towards Sarah, moving away in a half walk, half dance as he moved away. ‘Now, where were we?’.

‘Do you know sommat, Paula? I used to think you were a right stuck up cow. Swanning around in your shinny suits’, where was this going Paula thought with a chuckle. Dare she contemplate such, especially after the earful she had just unleashed towards Leanne, _’I’m so professional’,_ Tracy uttered in a mocking tone, smirk across her face, as Paula doubled over at the sight of her poorly executed imitation. ‘But actually, you’re not’.

‘Aww. Well, thank you. And if we’re laying our cards on the table. I think you’re a fool’, searching Tracy’s features for assurance as she took her chance, leaning once more into the space in which they had just shared.

‘What?’, Tracy expressed, with a slight upturn to her features and a smirk firmly across her face.

‘You have so much going for you, you have no idea. I think you need to throw caution to the wind’, Paula continued before reaching across the space, a risky move considering their previous company, chosing to trail a finger across the hand that had remained firmly across Tracy’s glass. 

‘And that is exactly what I am going to do. Well, after I have had a wazz’, Tracy proclaimed as she got up to head towards the ladies' room, ‘And once I have, I’ll be taking you up on the offer. Away from prying eyes. So don’t go anywhere'.

Paula couldn’t resist watching the other woman, turning her gaze to watch the other woman strut away, Tracy knowing exactly the trance she was causing under as she put a slight sway into her hips as she turned into the bathroom. It was safe to say that as the evening had gone on, and as Tracy had drank more and more, her guard had defiantly fallen, and soon enough that came to the forefront as her phone buzzed from her purse.

_Make your excuses, because I’m not leaving you here in this bar any longer in that dress. I’ll be out in five. I can’t handle the overbearing stench of cheap body spray much longer. We’ll go to that classy place not far from Victoria Street._

God, this woman was insatiable.

 _Victoria Street. You mean the place minutes from my flat, trying to tell me something._ Reputation be damned, she quite enjoyed the company of this woman.

_Five Minutes. Make your excuses or I’ll entertain myself without you, I’ll be waiting outside._

And with that she arose, she’d loathe to be asked twice, loathe to see the woman slink off without her, she can barely even consider what "entertaining myself without you" means, turning to go in search of Adam and Leanne and say her goodbyes. 

‘Okay, I going to get off. Meet up with that friend and take her up on that offer of drinks’. 

Leanne had already started laughing at her comment and she had not even said anything, ‘getting off alright. That means someone is getting lucky, well at least you can finally shrug of Tracy and enjoy your evening, where is the moody cow?’, she states as she grabs Paula in a half hug, ‘I’m so happy, stay safe and all of that’.

//

When she had finally met back up with Tracy, the woman had clearly re-applied her lipstick, her lips reddened once more after the colour had gradually smeared off across the many glasses they had used through the night. Her coat was once more on her shoulders as they began the short walk to the aforementioned bar only a stones throw from Paula’s flat, yet far enough that they could finally have some peace away from the watchful eyes of their friends.

If for a moment, she debates whether she should just go straight home, part ways with Tracy before they could do anything stupid, something which they would both regret. But, they are both grown-ups. And she knows that Tracy is straight, and as much as she talks a big game, she’d never divorce Steve. No, they are just having a friendly drink.

When they do eventually get to the bar and enter, it is already a more restrained affair than the prior hours of their evening that they had shared. She’s been here on many a night, even had a working lunch or two here with clients and opposing legal council. Yet, with the New Year, there are slightly more faces than usual, but the hour is late enough that it is still a pleasant enough experience with most already heading off to enjoy the rest of the New Year festivities. 

‘I’ll get the drinks in if you find a spot. G&T?’, Tracy remarks as she begins to remove her jacket, their eyes locking in a gaze if not for the first time that evening; it wouldn't be stupid to even state that her palms had begun to sweat. Nobody has ever affected her like this and that is what scares her the most, this unfiltered lust. Sophie probably came close, but she never disarmed her like this. Like Tracy has in a matter of hours even. The way that Tracy looks at her scares her, yet it puts her at ease at the same time, as if her gaze is slowly caressing her with every swoop of her gaze. She can just about confirm to the other woman that that is the drink she would like as she watches Tracy walk away once more.

She has just about got herself under control as she takes comfort in the far corner of the bar, the spot she regularly selects, when Tracy returns once again.

‘Trying to keep me your dirty little secret in the corner over here?’ she begins with a questioning tone before she laughs and raises her glass, ‘Cheers’, as the two clink glasses. ‘But seriously now you have my attention, you said I needed to throw caution to the wind back at that other place. So, tell me. What does that entail’, and Tracy cannot resist but reach her hand over to the other woman, locking eyes and sharing a glance, ‘because I can be very persuasive when I want to be’.

Paula knows she shouldn’t, knows that Tracy is married, that for as much as she talks a big game, she in her own way loves Steve. Yet, a small part of her cannot resist when they lock eyes once more. ‘Well that depends how much caution you are willing to spare Tracy, how much you’ll regret this once the morning comes’. Part of Paula cannot pretend that this is ok, when it's not. But with Tracy staring at her the way that she is, it makes her allure hard to resist. 

‘So I was thinking…’

‘Careful Tracy, you’ll do yourself an injury’, Tracy’s eyes roll at that comment.

But as Tracy’s gaze settles down once again, observing how their fingers had somehow become interlinked ever so in the midst of their conversation. ‘As I was saying, would be shame to end the evening now. So why don’t we head back to yours. Bet you’ve got some nice bottles of wine we could enjoy, bring in the New Year in the right way. What is it? A minute walk if that?’

‘Tracy Barlow are you propositioning me, trying to persuade me to take you back to my home no less?’, she replied as her tone dropped once more with a seductive lilt effecting her words. ‘because the logical part of me knows that that is a really bad idea, yet the other part cannot overlook how much I want you right now. 

‘I guess I am Paula, so what do you say, fancy joining me for a fun night of debauchery. Say yes?’ Tracy urges as she moves that hand that was caressing Paula’s fingers to pull her closer and urge her forward into a close embrace, resting her forehead against the other woman’s, noting from the clock behind the pair that the minutes were getting closer to midnight, ‘why not start the New Year off right, hey?’.

‘Grab your coat, you’ve pulled’, Paula stated quietly with a light chuckle, grinning at the other woman before urging forward and kissing her softly with a slow caress. ‘Guess your efforts of dressing up for tonight aren’t going to go to waste after all. Aren’t you glad you didn't go to the Rovers now?’.

//

Before she’d even got the key in the lock, she could feel Tracy’s hands insistantly grasping at her waist, lips slowly making a trail across her collar bone as she lifted her hair away from her neck, nipping at the tender spot just short of her ear. She couldn't get the door open soon enough, but before she could, Tracy had turned her and pushed her square against the frame of door, eager to capture her lips once more in a frantic embrace.

‘You do know that behind the door, I possess many a spot more private and more comfortable for you to do that’.

‘Then hurry up and get the door open Paula’.


End file.
